Chief Officer Team

Chief Constable

Craig Guildford’s policing career began when he joined Cheshire Constabulary as a Police Constable in 1994 after completing a Geography degree at the University of Derby. He had previously served as a volunteer Special Constable with the same force since 1992.

After 18 months’ service as a uniformed Police Constable, he went into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and worked in a number of proactive crime units across the Constabulary.

In 2000, he was seconded to the National Crime Squad in Manchester where he worked in intelligence and targeted operations as a Detective Constable and Detective Sergeant.

On returning to Cheshire Constabulary, Craig gained a place on the High Potential Development Scheme, working in various operational and crime roles across four commands in addition to force reviews, Superintendent for Operations, Centralised Custody, PFI Programme Manager, BCU Superintendent Operations and 3 years as C/Supt BCU Commander.

As Superintendent for Citizen Focus at Cheshire Police, he implemented customer service desks across the Force which saw Cheshire rise from 43rd to first for overall satisfaction in less than two years.

Craig was appointed as Assistant Chief Constable for Specialist Operations and led the change team with West Yorkshire Police in October 2012 before joining Gwent Police as Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) in April 2014 where he was the strategic lead for the all Wales Schools Liaison Programme working with Welsh Government.

Craig joined Nottinghamshire Police as Chief Constable in February 2017 and, since joining the force, moved with his family to live in the county he serves.

Since joining Nottinghamshire Police as Chief Constable in February 2017, Craig has been committed to delivering a partnership focussed policing service that delivers value for money for local people while also increasing the number of police officers employed by the force. Since his appointment, the number of police officers employed in the county had risen to 1,950 officers, a figure that is expected to increase further towards 2000 full and part-time officers by April 2019.

Craig remains a specialist firearms commander, public order commander and assesses nationally in both disciplines. He is also the national policing lead for complaints and misconduct.

As part of his national responsibilities Craig is a committee member and discipline friend with the Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association. He also works with Home Office, IOPC and staff associations at a national level to implement forthcoming systemic changes to the complaints and discipline system. Additionally he remains a mentor, assessor and co-director of the Strategic Command Course.

Deputy Chief Constable

Rachel Barber joined Nottinghamshire Police as Deputy Chief Constable in April 2017 from South Yorkshire Police, where she had worked since 1988.

Throughout her 30 years in service, she has worked in a number of operational roles at different ranks, undertaking senior management positions which have included working as the Head of the South Yorkshire Police’s specialist uniform operations and Crime Directorate.

During her time in South Yorkshire, Rachel helped the force to save more than £3.5million within her specialist operations portfolio, delivering effective support to local policing and ensuring the force maintained the Strategic Policing Requirement.

Her previous roles have included working as the staff officer to the Chief Constable and in national planning for the G8 summit in 2005, which saw Rachel in the Cabinet Office briefing room in Whitehall after the 7/7 bombings in London.

She was selected as a Police Commander for the England International Football Operation, which saw her travel across the world and finish as the police delegation commander for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

Following attendance on the Strategic Command Course, Rachel was appointed as Assistant Chief Constable for Protective Services, where she was responsible for crime and public protection alongside managing the Regional Firearms License on behalf of the Chief Constable for the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

Since joining Nottinghamshire Police, Rachel has led on developing the force’s internal governance, forging better relationships between the force and staff associations and has also led on developing the force’s culture to support its aim to become an employer of choice.

Rachel’s time in Nottinghamshire has also seen her work to align the force’s enabling services to better support front-line policing, working to reshape the force’s relationship with MFSS and redesigning the force’s promotion process to make it fairer, more consistent and to embed the Competency Values Framework.

Operationally, Rachel is a Strategic Firearms Commander and acts as a gold commander for Public Order operations.

Outside of work, Rachel enjoys running and also plays netball for the Nottinghamshire Police Sirens.

Assistant Chief Constable

Steve Cooper started his policing career with the Metropolitan Police Service, where he worked within both uniformed policing and CID.Steve transferred to Nottinghamshire Police in 2001 and was posted to Mansfield. He was promoted to Inspector in 2002, where he worked in a variety of posts including Response, Neighbourhoods and CID.

Steve was promoted to Superintendent in October 2007 and was responsible for leading operations in the City and then appointed as the Deputy Divisional Commander. During his time as a Superintendent, Steve commanded many of the large events that the city hosted, including the Diamond Jubilee visit by Her Majesty the Queen and the Old Market Square events for the Olympic Torch Relay.

In 2013, Steve was promoted to Chief Superintendent and Divisional Commander for the City of Nottingham. He remained there until 2016, when he was seconded to a regional project prior to attending the Strategic Command Course (SCC).Following his attendance at the SCC, in April 2017 Steve was selected to be the Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) responsible for leading the Change Programme.

Steve is now the Assistant Chief Constable for local policing, where he is responsible for Response, Neighbourhoods and CID in the City and the County, as well as the Control Room and custody suites.

Operationally, Steve is also a Strategic Commander for Firearms and Public Order.

In his free time, Steve likes running and generally keeping fit and tries to complete a few half marathons each year, as well as enjoying taking part with others in the annual East Midlands Tough Mudder.